VanLife in a 2005 Honda CR-V Overland SUV Camper Conversion, Part 1: The Build

In this video I'm reinstalling the bed platform and shelving cabinets inside my 2nd Gen 2005 Honda CR-V that I've converted into an overlanding camper. My goal is to live and travel in this full time over the course of the next year or two. This build has taken roughly around a year to complete to this point with a lot of trial and error to find a design that worked for me, unfortunately I don't have any video of the build process prior to the reinstall.

With the weight from the lumber and my gear, the rear end of the CRV had some sag...so to support the extra weight I removed the platform and shelving a few weeks ago to access the interior panels that covered the top of the rear struts, I had new rear struts and a set of ARB OME (Old Man Emu) 1.5" lifted coil springs installed, which so far has worked out very well after reinstalling the platform and shelving.

The materials I used for this build include 3/4" birch plywood, 2"x"4"x8' and 2"x6"x8' white pine studs, L or corner brackets/braces of various sizes, torx head wood screws, t-nuts, wood glue, stainable wood filler, polyurethane, hinges and several different sized nuts, washers, and bolts. Definitely recommend plenty of cardboard for creating templates to get as close to exact fit possible before cutting any lumber. Everything was built using several hand tools, a Ryobi power tool set and a Ryobi 12" compound sliding miter saw I bought on sale at Home Depot.

Hope you all find this video helpful and thanks for watching. Like and subscribe for more upcoming videos, including the full tour on how I converted my 2005 Honda CR-V into an overlanding camper and of the adventures to come.